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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849598">Always and Forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erispeth/pseuds/Erispeth'>Erispeth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Our Life: Beginnings &amp; Always (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Magic, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:07:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,057</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erispeth/pseuds/Erispeth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This work is on indefinite hiatus.</p><p> </p><p>Collection of different oneshots in fantasy, sci-fi or mystical AUs.<br/>How MC and Cove reach their forever in different scenarios.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cove Holden/Main Character | Jaime Last (Our Life), Cove Holden/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Goose that brought us together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Because I obviously have no better things to do, what with the giant multi chaptered fic that I planned and started writing.<br/>But I needed some venting for multitude of ideas that come to me about Our Life at all times.</p><p>Also I have this disease where I am incapable of writing anything in realistic and non-magical setting, so sorry.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing: Cove Holden/Reader(MC), Reader(MC)/Cove Holden<br/>AU: Witches/Magic + The Soulmate Goose of Reinforcement<br/>Setting: Urban Fantasy<br/>Rating: PG - PG-13<br/>Tags: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Time Skip<br/>Warnings: Feelings of low self-worth, nervous breakdown (both in the second half) (it’s nothing serious but if you feel uncomfortable or can be triggered by any of these, please use your discretion)<br/>Summary: ___ and Cove Holden have to confront many things on their way to happily ever after. Among them is a goose and long distance relationships.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This was a beautiful sunny day. However, your Mommies decided that it’s time for you to join your sister in learning alchemy and potions and so there was nothing that you could do but comply.</p><p>For eight year old to stay inside, brewing potions and hiding from neighbours, wasn’t as exciting as to go outside and have some fun with your favourite playmate and neighbour – Cove Holden.</p><p>He wasn’t here for long, less than two months actually, but you could already tell that he was a special boy and someone you will want to spend more time with in the future.</p><p>You grumpily walked into the basement only to stop in amazement – there he was, Cove Holden, boy you had just been thinking about.</p><p>Mommy noticed you and gestured you to come over and take your sit.</p><p>“Cove’s dad decided that he is old enough to learn alchemy with you two, I agreed to tutor him as well. Hope you don’t mind?”</p><p>Don’t mind? Of course you didn’t mind! You were ecstatic!</p><p>With a skip in your step you quickly took your place at the table near Cove.</p><p>“Hi, Cove.”</p><p>He smiled at you.</p><p>“Hi, ___.”</p><p>You were happy and not even an entire lecture, on how you should be extremely careful when combining newt’s eyes and unicorn’s horn dust in one potion, because it can lead to an explosion, could ruin your good mood.</p><p>You looked up from the book you were reading and saw Mom standing at the bottom of the stairs.</p><p>“Lani.”</p><p>“Yes, Pam?” Mommy came up to Mom.</p><p>“This is Mrs. Williams. She is waiting in the living room. She said that you were supposed to make her special brew.”</p><p>“Oh, I almost forgot this. Can you look after children, I will be right back.” Mommy kissed Mom on the cheek.</p><p>“Yes, of course. Just don’t take too long.”</p><p>“Of course.” Mommy looked at all of you. “And you, behave.”</p><p>Upon receiving a promise to behave properly she left. Mom took her chair and sat in front of you.</p><p>“Just because Mom doesn’t know anything about magic doesn’t mean you get to laze away and do nothing. Go on, I am sure you have a lot to do.”</p><p>With combined sighs you all went back to each doing your own thing.</p><p>Not even a minute passed when you heard weird sound coming from your right, where Lizzie and Cove were busy mixing potion of illusion for the next autumn equinox. Of course without Mommy’s supervision and because of Mom’s lack of magical knowledge they were bound to do something wrong. Mom noticed commotion as well.</p><p>“You were not supposed to put newt’s eyes together with unicorn’s horn dust! Your mom even said so.”</p><p>“But in the book it says that I have to put both!”</p><p>“But not one after another! You need to wait until newt’s eye boils into goo and then add horn dust. Lizzie!” Cove looked terrified at the potion boiling out of the cauldron.</p><p>You looked at it as well and so did your Mom.</p><p>She had the quickest reaction out of all four of you so by quickly scooping all of you and running for the closest cover she managed to get you from the direct line of danger. With deafening sound cauldron exploded and covered everything that was in the open in bright red goo.</p><p>“Pamela!” Mommy screamed from upstairs. You heard loud thumping of her shoes getting closer and closer until you saw her. Mommy rarely looked angry but when she did you knew that it’s best not to be the target of her ire.</p><p>“Pamela, what in the world…” She looked at the red goop and shattered cauldron spread on the floor. As you looked on with bated breath, she loudly breathed in through her nose and loudly breathed out of her mouth, trying to calm down. Finally she turned to all of you with concern.</p><p>“Are you alright? Is anybody hurt? What even happened?” She looked you all over in search of any kind of injury.</p><p>“I am okay.” You said. “So am I.” “Me too.” These were Cove and Lizzie respectively.</p><p>“I am fine as well. Lani, everything is alright. No one was hurt.”</p><p>Mommy breathed out after Mom’s assurance, but then her face hardened.</p><p>“I am not going to ask you what happened, cleaning up is more important right now, but after we are finished I would like to hear the full story, no lies. Understood?”</p><p>With a chorus of ‘yeses’ you spent the next half an hour cleaning basement from the terrible accident that wasn’t even your fault in the first place.</p><p>After you finished you were led into the living room and sat on the coach.</p><p>“Now, I would like to know what happened.”</p><p>“It’s all his fault!” Lizzie was the first to push the blame on Cove.</p><p>“It’s not true! She added unicorn’s horn dust right after newt’s eyes!” Cove defended himself.</p><p>“It was in the book! I just followed the recipe!”</p><p>“Kids! Calm down, please.” Everybody settled down. “I am not going to point fingers and tell who is responsible for this incident; as far as I can tell everybody is to this or that extent. That includes me too. However, seeing as how all of us already cleaned the basement and the person most responsible for incident is Lizzie…” “Mommy!” “…she will have to spend some extra time studying so that something like this won’t happen again. Now that we learned our lessons, I think some celebratory ice cream is due.”</p><p>With cheer you run towards kitchen. By the end of the day only Lizzie remained sulking.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>By the next day you had already forgotten all about what happened yesterday and were happy playing with Cove in the sand, making sandcastle together.</p><p>You were having so much fun and you could tell that Cove was having fun too. Until Lizzie decided to drop in on you.</p><p>“Hey, ___. I would like to borrow Cove for a minute. There is something I need to talk to him about.”</p><p>Cove was about to open his mouth and tell Lizzie off but you beat him to it.</p><p>“You can’t borrow a person. In fact you can’t own a person.”</p><p>“You know what I meant. I need to talk to him.”</p><p>“Then talk here, everything you can tell me you can tell ___.”</p><p>Lizzie was getting frustrated.</p><p>“I want to talk to him. It’s about that one spell.”</p><p>You were about to retort but Cove stopped you. He looked like he knew what she was talking about.</p><p>“It’s okay. I will be quick.” With a glare he followed after Lizzie.</p><p>You didn’t like it. For some reason you had this weird feeling like something was going to happen, not exactly bad but just something. You quickly got to your feet and ran after them.</p><p>You didn’t find Cove, but you found Lizzie who looked too pleased with herself.</p><p>“What happened? Where is Cove?” you demanded.</p><p>“I don’t know, he just run off.”</p><p>You didn’t bother with Lizzie and just run towards Cove’s house. You hoped he was there.</p><p>He wasn’t. Before the panic settled in you decided to search other places where he could be.</p><p>He wasn’t in the park and wasn’t on the beach. He wasn’t on the hill behind your house either.</p><p>You ran home to tell your moms what happened. You hoped they could help you find him.</p><p>“Mommy! Mommy, I need help. I can’t find Cove. He ran off and I looked for him everywhere but he was nowhere to be found. And I am just so worries. What if something bad happened to him?” You were gibbering, almost hyperventilating. Your Mom kneeled in front of you and put her hands on your shoulders.</p><p>“___, stop. Take a deep breath through your nose. Yeah just like this. Let it out through your mouth. Slower. Slower. Yes, just like this. Good, good. Come on, breath with me. In. Out. In. Out. Take your time.” You followed her advice and just took some time to breathe. Soon you started to feel calmer. “Now, what were you trying to say?”</p><p>“We were playing on the beach and then Lizzie came by and wanted to talk to Cove about some spell so he went with her. I went to find them but when I did it was just Lizzie and when I asked her where Cove went she said that he just run off somewhere. So I went to find him. I looked everywhere he could be but he wasn’t there. I don’t know what to do.” You started tearing up again.</p><p>“Oh, sweetie, we will find him. Everything will be good. Now dry your tears, it wouldn’t do you any good for your special boy to see you this way, right?” She winked at you. You were scandalized.</p><p>“Mom!”</p><p>“Pam, what is happening?” Your Mommy went through the basement door. With just one look at you she was near you holding you and asking if you were okay. Mom explained the situation to your Mommy and she frowned obviously not pleased with Lizzie. Of course she couldn’t blame her child for everything that happened between those two but she didn’t’ have any illusions that between the two of them Lizzie was the active one while Cove was, for the most part, reactive.</p><p>“We will figure something out. But for now, do you think you will be okay on your own for a bit?” You thought it over and nodded. You felt better now that you knew your Mommies were helping. They always knew how to make everything better. “Good. Then can you, please, go to your room and relax for a while? I am sure all that searching and crying tired you out. We will wake you once we have some information or we have found him, okay?” You nodded once again and with quickly exchanged kisses went to your room.</p><p>The moment your head made contact with your pillow you were lost to this world.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Pamela was already dialing the closest neighbour and Noelani was about to cast quick location spell, when somebody urgently knocked on their door.</p><p>They exchanged a look and Pamela put the phone back into place and went towards the door to answer it.</p><p>Upon opening it she found Cove who frantically tried to push something away from him. He looked up and saw your Mom.</p><p>“Cove, what is…” She heard weird sounds and looked behind him towards the source and there was. A goose? Yeah, it was a goose, a really angry goose that was pinching Cove and hitting him with its wings. The sound was its loud and obnoxious honking. “What the?”</p><p>“Sorry, I need to come through!” Cove quickly dove under her outstretched arm inside the house.</p><p>“Pam, what is…” Noelani noticed Cove as well. And a goose. It was kind of hard not to notice a goose considering that it was currently chasing Cove in circles all across their living room.</p><p>Goose tried to chase him up the stairs but Noelani managed to intercept it and so the goose was forced to continue chasing Cove across the entire living room.</p><p>“Lani, what is this?”</p><p>“I will need to get a closer look before making any assumptions.”</p><p>At this exact moment Lizzie decided to come back after spending time outside.</p><p>She found this picture: Cove running in circles around living room, goose following him with loud honking, Mom trying to catch the goose and Mommy who, for some reason, was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t help herself, it was just so hilarious she laughed out loud.</p><p>Noelani’s eyes quickly zeroed in on the main culprit of this entire situation.</p><p>“Lizzie, Mommy wants to know what did you do?”</p><p>Lizzie stopped laughing immediately.</p><p>“It was just a prank, a little harmless prank!”</p><p>“Elizabeth.” Every child knew that when parent uses your full name you are in big, big trouble. So Lizzie complied.</p><p>“It was a simple spell.”</p><p>“Can you bring a book where you found it to me?”</p><p>Happy to be away from her Mommy’s scrutiny, Lizzie nodded and run around her to her room.</p><p>Noelani sighed tiredly. Why can’t those children spend one day without causing any unnecessary trouble?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Through the veil of sleep you heard weird loud noises. Whatever it was it woke you up and you were not a happy ___ when awakened from your day nap. Then suddenly memories of what occurred earlier today came back to you. Cove!</p><p>You jumped from the bed and ran, stumbling, towards the living room, where you could hear the main source of the loud sounds.</p><p>On your way down you saw Lizzie who was running towards her room.</p><p>You wanted to give her a piece of your mind concerning what happened today but there were more important things.</p><p>You run down the stairs skipping steps in the process and when you were finally on the first floor you saw…</p><p>A really interesting picture.</p><p>Cove running in circles around living room, goose chasing Cove with loud honking, Mom who tried to catch the goose and Mommy, who was standing near you.</p><p>“Mommy, what is going on?”</p><p>She looked down at you. “Nothing serious, sweetie. Your sister thought that it was funny to cast a spell that summons a goose on Cove, as soon as she brings the book she found it in we can start working on undoing it.”</p><p>‘Lizzie!’ You knew she did something. Well, you will just have to make sure to leave a big fat hairy caterpillar on top of her pillow.</p><p>Suddenly goose started pushing Cove into a completely different direction, to be more precise into your direction.</p><p>It stopped when Cove was right in front of you. And by stopped you mean it stopped biting, honking, pushing and generally acting aggressive towards Cove.</p><p>Everybody looked at this occurrence mystified.</p><p>“Ehm, hi?” Cove said unsure. Then he noticed your proximity and tried to move further away. “Sorry, I…” when suddenly goose started honking again, flapping its wings until Cove was standing right in front of you yet again.</p><p>Everything was quiet, nobody said a single word.</p><p>You see something click in your Mommy’s expression, like she understood what was going on.</p><p>“Momm…”</p><p>“Lani, is everything okay?” You weren’t the only one to notice the change. Mom did too.</p><p>Mommy gestured for her to come closer which she did. She leaned in and started whispering something to her.</p><p>Mom looked confused at first but when Mommy stopped explaining the same glimmer entered and her eyes.</p><p>They separated and looked at you two with equal amusement on their faces.</p><p>“Well, kids, we will leave you to your business.” Her voice cracked a couple of times but she managed to keep a straight face.</p><p>You frowned.</p><p>“Yes. Just don’t get too far from each other. Mommies need to go and find a counter spell. Have fun.” Mommy’s voice only cracked once but she couldn’t keep a giant grin from her face.</p><p>With these words they quickly went outside and locked the door.</p><p>“Bye!” “Bye.” You heard laughter from behind the door. Weirdos.</p><p>“Bye.” You said unsure, Cove remained silent just like he had been since the moment goose pushed him back towards you.</p><p>“So, what now?” he finally asked.</p><p>You shrugged. “I think I need to sit down.” Cove nodded and together side by side you went towards the coach closely followed by goose.</p><p>Together you sat down and quietly stared forward. ‘Moms are so weird.’</p><p>Silence was awkward but you didn’t know how to break it so you continued to sit still and stare into the distance.</p><p>Cove opened his mouth a couple of times but closed it soon after. He was about to say something when Lizzie appeared at the top of the stairs with a giant thick book on her hands.</p><p>“Here is the book! Oh, and here I wondered why it became so quiet all of a sudden. Where are Moms?”</p><p>“They said that they went to look for counter spell.” You answered.</p><p>“Hmm. Okay. Then I will just leave this here, tell when they come back. I will be in my room. This is such a mess.”</p><p>Cove fumed. “Well, whose fault do you think it is?”</p><p>Lizzie frowned at him.</p><p>“Well, obviously not mine. I was right.”</p><p>He looked seconds away from doing something he will regret. He stood up and took a step towards Lizzie.</p><p>“No, it was yours! Why can’t you just admit that you were the one at fault?”</p><p>Lizzie was about to say something in return when goose started honking and pinching Cove again. He yelped and tried to fight the bird off but it was stubborn and didn’t stop until he sat near you.</p><p>Lizzie was just looking at all of this, then shrugged and went back upstairs to her room.</p><p>You sighed. There was one thing that Lizzie was right about, this was a mess.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>You had to do something while waiting for your Moms to come back. Your options were limited because you couldn’t move more than half a meter away from each other before goose started attacking Cove.</p><p>At the moment you were sitting on the coach thinking what to do, goose sat on your knees, seemingly content with being an object of absentminded pets from you. Cove looked at the goose like it was his personal enemy.</p><p>You couldn’t come up with anything interesting to do and were about to tell so to Cove when his stomach decided to notify you that it was indeed dinner time and that neither of you had eaten anything aside from breakfast.</p><p>You shared a look and as one stood and went into the kitchen, goose still in your arms. Without physically separating you managed to make a couple of cold sandwiches. Somewhere around this time Lizzie decided to come down and eat some sandwiches herself. Conversation was awkward and short. You were happily munching on your food, Cove was grumbling something to himself and Lizzie was pouting.</p><p>When she left you almost felt relieved, the atmosphere her presence brought slowly dissipated and you could finally breathe normally.</p><p>Next Cove proposed to simply read some books. “It’s not fun to just read books.” You said.</p><p>“Then what do you want to do?” “Let’s make a pillow fort and read books there!” He shrugged “I don’t mind it.”</p><p>For the next 10 minutes you understood exactly how not thought through was your plan, after all you had to do everything together. Bring more pillows together. Push furniture together. Cover it all with blankets together. By the end you were both tired and wanted to simply collapse inside your newly made shelter when Cove suddenly uncovered one more problem with your predicament.</p><p>“I need to use the bathroom.”</p><p>You both looked at the goose innocently sitting on top of the fort and cleaning its feathers.</p><p>You shared a look and together went towards bathroom.</p><p>“So, look. You will come inside and instantly close the door behind you.”</p><p>“What if it teleports?”</p><p>“Well, we don’t know that for sure. At least it’s worth a try, right?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I will do my best to not let it get to you.”</p><p>He smiled shyly. Then his smile turned teasing.</p><p>“Thank you. You are almost like that knight from your favourite book.”</p><p>Your cheeks aflame you pushed him towards the bathroom door. “Just go, I will be here, protecting your virtue from evil gooses.”</p><p>“It’s geese.”</p><p>“Whatever, geez.”</p><p>He laughed and finally opened the door. When he closed it the goose became upset it started honking and trying to pinch your legs but you stood like a steel wall between the goose and the door. Nothing was passing past your vigilant gaze.</p><p>You knew Cove was behind the door because goose calmed down all of a sudden.</p><p>Together, side by side, you settled down inside your fort.</p><p>With Cove at your right side and goose at your left you didn’t notice how you yet again started nodding off.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It seemed like only a moment ago you closed your eyes yet when you opened them the next time it was so dark. You heard key turning in the lock, then the bright light subdued by the blankets cut through the darkness and the shadow appeared right in front of the entrance to your little fort.</p><p>“___, are you here?” It was Mommy.</p><p>“Yeah.” You quietly answered, after all Cove deserved some sleep after what he had to go through.</p><p>“Is Cove with you?”</p><p>“Where else would he be?” You asked grumpily.</p><p>She just chuckled. “Is he sleeping?”</p><p>You looked towards him. “Yeah.”</p><p>“Then come out whenever he wakes up. I think we have a solution to this problem.”</p><p>“You do?” you were so excited that you forgot to mind your volume.</p><p>“What?” You were sure that’s what he meant to say but it was so mumbled and sleepy that it was almost impossible to understand. You quietly sniggered. He raised his head and looked at you while slowly blinking. “What? Why are you laughing?” but it sounded more like ‘WATYULFIN?’ You laughed out loudly.</p><p>He frowned at you and pushed you over. You continued laughing.</p><p>He rolled his eyes and tried to get up, stumbling over from still being sleepy. You noticed that the goose that was sleeping alongside you was wide awake from Cove’s movements and intensely observed all of his actions.</p><p>He obviously forgot all about the goose because he didn’t even think twice before exiting the pillow fort.</p><p>That was his first mistake.</p><p>His second was to scream loudly and run away in the direction opposite of you after goose decided to nom on his toes.</p><p>The same picture you looked at earlier today was repeating itself yet again.</p><p>There was Cove, running away from the goose, there were Mommies trying to get Cove to calm down and tell him to go back to you and there was also Mr. Holden looking at all of this and obviously having no idea how to help.</p><p>With little help from Mommy Cove finally understood what the goose wanted and ran over to you. Goose stopped near him, passive.</p><p>The only positive thing out of all of this was that Cove was wide awake now.</p><p>He looked confused until you could see a bulb go off in his brain, then he just looked embarrassed.</p><p>“So?” You asked when everything calmed down.</p><p>“So?” Your Mom asked in return.</p><p>“So, did you find what the spell is and what is the counter spell?” Cove obviously had no patience to deal with any more of your Mom’s behaviour. She frowned.</p><p>“Well, champ, you see.” Mr. Holden began uncomfortably. “There is no actual counter spell for this one.” </p><p>“What?! Are you saying that I will have to be with ___ at all times what with the goose not letting me to leave them for even a second?” Cove was obviously not happy with this.</p><p>“Well…” Mr. Holden began but soon trailed off when it finally dawned on him that Cove was near you and the goose was calmly walking in circles around the two of you. The same glimmer that was in your Moms’ eyes earlier today was now in his as well. Why were adults being so weird today?</p><p>“Dad!”</p><p>“Sorry, sorry.” He sheepishly carded his fingers through his hair.</p><p>“While there is no counter spell, there is a way to break it.” Mommy said. Everyone was quiet. “Lani.” Mom subtly nudged Mommy in the side.</p><p>“Oh, right. Well.” You looked at your Mommies expectantly. “It’s a Soulmate Goose of Reinforcement, meaning that when summoned it will follow its target, in this case Cove, and lead them to the one that was meant for them, one with whom they will spend the rest of their lives.”</p><p>Your jaw dropped to the floor. Meant ones? The rest of your lives? Not that you minded, Cove was nice and all but wasn’t it too early? You were both only 8.</p><p>“Don’t worry, after me and your Mommy met and I learned about magic, the goose was the reason why we got together in the end. I think at this point it’s almost a family tradition. Maybe even Lizzie will meet her meant one through a well casted goose spell?” Mom laughed at her own joke.</p><p>“But it’s a goose! How can it decide if we are meant to be or not? What does this even mean ‘meant to be’?” Cove wasn’t taking this revelation as well as you were.</p><p>“Well.” Mommy looked at Mom. “Goose is never wrong. But then again… Let’s have this conversation again in, let’s just say, 8 more years, okay? I will explain everything then.” You nodded, obviously this topic made adults uncomfortable, and why it was fun to finally see them loose their adult composure you understood that whatever had enough power to crumble your Mommy’s resolve it was something that was best left alone. At least for now.</p><p>Cove was really still and quiet. He wasn’t looking at you, in fact he wasn’t looking at anyone, just down at his feet.</p><p>“So.” He suddenly said. “How do you make the goose disappear?”</p><p>Your parent looked deep in thought.</p><p>“Well, you have to kiss the one the goose led you to.” Said Mr. Holden. At your shocked expressions he frantically added. “Nothing serious, kids! Just one kiss on a cheek will do.”</p><p>Cove looked almost panicked at these words. You were unsettled too, but soon, seeing as how Cove wasn’t doing anything and the situation needed to be resolved, you mustered all the courage you had and turned towards him.</p><p>He looked at you with big round eyes, his cheeks slightly pink. You leaned in towards his face. When you were close enough to count every eyelash he was as red as tomato, from the tips of his ears to the bottom of his neck. You leaned in even closer and pecked him on the lips.</p><p>You turned away quickly, as red as Cove, feeling like you were about to faint.</p><p>Cove just stood still, unresponsive, until he suddenly fell over, unconscious. “Cove!” Cove’s dad was quick enough to catch him before he fell on the floor.</p><p>Goose gave out a strangled honk before it seemed to shrink into a ball of white feathers that disappeared in a firework of whites and yellows.</p><p>You walked backwards before the back of your legs hit the coach and you fell onto it. Then you turned over onto your side and curled into a ball of embarrassment. Your Mommies tried to console you, but you remained inconsolable. You wanted them to just let you die from embarrassment in piece.</p><p>Right here, on this coach is where you will remain. Rest in pepperoni, ___.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>You looked out of the window. It was your first day back from Augustus Mafursen Advanced Academy for Promising Witches, Warlocks and Wizards. </p><p>You were 23 and proud to say that you were finally free to stay forever, just like you promised to each other before you had to part for five years.</p><p>It was hell, five years without him constantly in your life. You felt like you were dying every moment you were away from each other. The only moments of solace were moments late in the evening, where you used mirrors to talk to and see each other. You would spend hours upon hours just sharing your new experiences and thoughts, talking about everything. Short holidays, when you got away from academy, were never enough to satisfy the skin deep hunger you had for his presence. You needed hugs and cuddles and evenings spent together and mornings where the first thing you saw was his face.</p><p>Oh, how you have missed him. But now you are here to stay. You are not going anywhere unless it’s with him.</p><p>You hear the light creak of the front door opening, then shuffling of things moving and then sounds of footsteps going up the staircase.</p><p>You prepared yourself for this moment, both mentally and physically by taking the same pose and place that he did five years ago when the first thing he decided to do upon coming back was to visit you in your room.</p><p>Door creaks open and you finally saw him in person for the first time in what felt like forever.</p><p>He looked at you, eyes round, unbelieving. You just smiled at him.</p><p>“Cove.”</p><p>“___? How? When did you? What?!”</p><p>“Surprise!”</p><p>You see when it clicks that you are really here, in his room. That you didn’t go to see your Moms and you didn’t go to see your sister who was also in town at the moment. No, you came to him first thing, because you wanted to see him more than anyone else.</p><p>He looked you in the eyes, lips split in smile so wide it looked like it hurt.</p><p>He made a step towards you. You jumped from the windowsill and stepped towards him. The next second you knew you were wrapped in each other in the tightest hug you ever had.</p><p>“I missed you so much.” He whispered in your ear.</p><p>“So do I. I still miss you and I will miss you until at least another month passes.”</p><p>He slightly pulled away and looked at you confusedly.</p><p>“I mean, I will miss you for even longer until I can finally fully recharge my inner Covemeter, which will take some time. So until it’s full I will miss you every day even when we are together.”</p><p>He squeezed you even tighter than before, face warm on your shoulder.</p><p>“You can be so embarrassing sometimes, ___.” But his actions betrayed his actual thoughts. He was happy that you were here, and even if he was unhappy that you were upset he was also clearly happy that you missed him so much.</p><p>“If you leave me for so long again, well this time I would just have to follow you no matter where you’ll go, right?”</p><p>“And you call me embarrassing? I have nothing on your levels of sappiness.” He pocked you in your ribs and you twisted to try to get away from tickling. He wouldn’t let you so you decided that the best defence is offense.</p><p>Two of you fell to the floor and were rolling around while laughing and tickling each other.</p><p>Soon you grew tired so upon coming to an unvoiced agreement both of you stopped tickling another.</p><p>“You cheated.” He said out of breath. “You used magic, it’s unfair.”</p><p>You huffed. “You started using magic first, so who was cheating?”</p><p>You looked at each other and broke into content smiles.</p><p>“Alright, me.” He conceded. “So, what will my penalty be?”</p><p>You rolled your eyes at him for being so overdramatic but played along.</p><p>“Judge decided that eternity of free piggyback rides for a victim is a sound punishment for convict such as yourself.”</p><p>He laughed openly. “You do know that you need only to ask me, I don’t mind doing something as simple as piggyback ride for you. You don’t have to take this to court for me to do this.”</p><p>“I know. I just couldn’t come up with anything else on the go.” You quickly pecked him on the lips before lying on your back. He did the same. Your hands bumped together and you quickly took hold of his. He squeezed yours in return.</p><p>You stayed like this for some time, just looking at the ceiling when you suddenly remembered something that made you laugh. Cove looked at you questioningly.</p><p>“I just remembered something.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Remember the goose?” You cracked up.</p><p>He looked deep in thought until the look of disappointment in you crossed his face. He turned his head to face you.</p><p>“Really? Like, really, ___. You had to remember this exact moment? Right now?”</p><p>“I told you that I won’t let you live it down, didn’t I?”</p><p>“You don’t have to remind me about it at every opportunity. Control yourself, geez.”</p><p>“Heh. Geez.”</p><p>He just rolled his eyes.</p><p>“When I kissed you back then, you fainted.”</p><p>He took his hand out of yours and covered his face with both of his. You could hear a loud exasperated groan through his palms.</p><p>“Yeah, good thing you don’t do this anymore, right? That would be really awkward if I decided to kiss you in public places.”</p><p>“___.” He was still covering his face. You took pity on him.</p><p>“There is nothing to be embarrassed about. What happened the week afterwards however, that’s what was really embaras…”</p><p>He sprang from his position on the floor and covered your mouth with one of his palms. He looked almost as red as on that day, 15 years ago.</p><p>“Stop, just don’t talk anymore.”</p><p>You shrugged but nodded to let him know that you won’t mention this moment again, today. You will wait at least a day before reminding him once again.</p><p>He took his hand away.</p><p>“Are you hungry?” You nodded. Together you agreed to go downstairs and make something to eat.</p><p>The entire trip Cove looked like he wanted to say something but in the end he kept quiet.</p><p>“If you want to say something, you can do it. You do know that I am always here for you?” you said when you came into the kitchen.</p><p>He almost jumped out of his skin and sheepishly turned towards you. You raised your eyebrow. He sighed.</p><p>“It’s just, I had been worried.”</p><p>“Worried? About what?”</p><p>He almost looked guilty when he said his next words.</p><p>“That you won’t come back to me? That you will see that there are so many other people and you will finally understand that I am not that person for you? That you will find someone better for yourself than me?”</p><p>“Cove.” You had no idea he felt this way. You knew that he was stressed because he couldn’t decide what he wanted in the future and you had a plan that you were following through. You knew that he thought he was failing to be someone that was worthy of you despite all your encouragements and kind words that you wouldn’t have him any other way than the way he was, that you wouldn’t have anyone else but him.</p><p>“Cove. I don’t want anyone else than you. The goose was…”</p><p>“Was what?” His temper flared. “It was just a goose, a silly spell, it didn’t mean anything back then and it doesn’t mean anything now. Don’t you see?! You can’t build your entire future on something that happened fifteen years ago! You deserve the best, and I am far from it.” Anger slowly drained out of him and he sagged finally looking the way he felt: lost, tired and sad.</p><p>“Cove.” You walked towards him and took his face in your hands, wiping away tears that spilled from his eyes. “Cove, I chose you. No matter the goose or no goose, I will always choose you.” More and more tears came and you held him through his hysteria until it ceased. “You will always be the one for me, Cove, no matter what happens or what and who says, no matter all the new people that we will meet and all the new places we will visit, no matter where, how or when I will always, always choose you.”</p><p>He held you tight to himself.</p><p>“Cove. Do you remember something that I said before leaving five years ago?”</p><p>He was quiet; the only sound your combined breathing.</p><p>“Yes.” He finally said.</p><p>“Can you tell me what it was?”</p><p>He obviously didn’t want to say it, his dark thoughts still plaguing him.</p><p>“Cove?”</p><p>“’Once I am back, let’s always be together. Let’s never leave each other’s side again. I want this to be forever. Alright, Cove?’”</p><p>“Nothing changed since then.”</p><p>“Didn’t it though?”</p><p>You hit him lightly in the chest. “No, nothing did.”</p><p>You pulled away and looked in his eyes. He looked back at you, lost. You can’t believe how stupid he can be sometimes but you loved him anyway.</p><p>“I promised you forever, Cove.” His breathing hitched. “I wouldn’t throw these kinds of words around. I was being serious back then, and I am serious now. I want to be with you forever.”</p><p>He cried again. This time from happiness.</p><p>“What did I ever do to deserve you?” He whispered.</p><p>“Everything. And if you ever feel doubtful about my feelings, well, I will just have to spend entire eternity proving you wrong.”</p><p>He chuckled.</p><p>“Didn’t you say forever? Now you are talking about eternity.”</p><p>“Exactly. I will spend one eternity proving to you how much I love you and the next eternity we will spend having fun as a couple.”</p><p>“What, no having fun for the first eternity?”</p><p>“No. You forfeited your rights to have fun as a couple, at least until you finally get it through that thick skull of yours that I don’t want anyone else but you. Stop doubting me and have a little more faith in yourself.”</p><p>He flushed deep red and it seems that he felt much better after having this conversation. He looked like he was about to burst with all the happiness that he was feeling at the moment.</p><p>He grabbed and lifted you in the air and started spinning you in a circle.</p><p>“I love you so much, ___.”</p><p>“I love you more, Cove.”</p><p>You were happy and content exactly where you were – in the arms of the one person you loved more than anything or anybody else in the entire world.</p><p>Two eternities and forever, with these you have all the time in the world to spend together.</p><p>Always and forever.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Christmas escapade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing: Gen<br/>AU: Christmas<br/>Setting: Undecided (somewhat canonical but not quite)<br/>Rating: PG<br/>Tags: Adventure, Humour, Christmas Magic<br/>Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply<br/>Summary: It’s Christmas Eve and you are excited to spend entire evening with your favourite neighbour Cove. But there is a mystery of Santa Claus. You just have to know if he is real or not.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a wonderful day. Clear skies, relatively warm, for winter, weather. And what could be better than these, only the fact that today is Christmas Eve and your family will be celebrating it with Mr. Holden and Cove. You couldn’t wait until tomorrow. All the presents you will get to open with Cove! Ah, a dream come true!</p>
<p>Evening came faster than you expected. In a blink of an eye it was dark outside and the lights were turned on. Soon you will go to sleep and tomorrow you will wake up and race down to be the first to open presents. You had to be the first this year because Lizzie was first since the moment she learned how to run, which was a long time ago!</p>
<p>But this year around you also had another goal. You had to see if Santa was real.</p>
<p>You had quite a disagreement with Lizzie over whether he was real or not. You didn’t want to accept that he wasn’t while she would constantly tell you that only children believe in Santa. It’s not like she is that much older than you are. She is a child too!</p>
<p>Good thing that Cove believed in Santa. You didn’t know what you would do if he didn’t. Probably something terrible.</p>
<p>Before going to sleep you helped Mommy prepare cookies and milk for Santa. You were happy to help. It almost felt like you were preparing the bait for your future hunt.</p>
<p>While in the kitchen you ended up ‘borrowing’ a couple of carrots because you read somewhere that Santa’s reindeers like them. That being done you and Cove retired to your room, where his sleeping accommodations have already been prepared.</p>
<p>When adults went to sleep your plan was set in motion. You took your warmest clothes and sneaked into the living room. Neither of you said anything you just settled down behind the coach to wait for Santa.</p>
<p>You were waiting and waiting, but Santa was nowhere to be seen.</p>
<p>You looked at the clock. Woah. It was so late that no self-respecting eight year old would ever consider being awake at this hour.</p>
<p>You were about to cancel the mission when you heard a sudden noise from inside the house.</p>
<p>At first you thought that it was one of your Mommies and that you were in big trouble but then you saw it.</p>
<p>“Santa.” You whispered amazed.</p>
<p>Cove looked where you were looking and his mouth fell open in shock.</p>
<p>It was either a weird man who was doing who knows what in your house while dressed as Santa or he was Santa.</p>
<p>Of course there was always a possibility that this was Cove’s dad but you didn’t want to believe in it.</p>
<p>Santa Claus walked soundlessly towards the Christmas tree, took three packages from his bag and put them near the rest of the presents. Then he noticed cookies and milk and with an interested ‘Ho!’ reached for them.</p>
<p>You quietly gasped and then snapped out of trance. You shook Cove out of his stupor and together you proceeded onward with your plan.</p>
<p>Carrots secured in your pockets, you went outside through the front door. The door was locked but a little sleight of the hand, and the key quickly moved from the little shelf near exit into the lock. You were outside.</p>
<p>In your excitement you almost forgot to lock the door behind you.</p>
<p>With this task over you turned and looked where Cove was staring this entire time.</p>
<p>It was a sleigh. With… “Reindeers.” Whispered Cove.</p>
<p>Indeed, those were reindeers and this was sleigh. So this Santa was real!</p>
<p>Cove excitedly ran over to them, you only could keep up with him and his enthusiasm.</p>
<p>Reindeers didn’t look happy with your presence, but after a quick and delicious offering of juicy carrots they suddenly became really invested in licking your faces all over.</p>
<p>Next target was the sleigh itself. It was giant, as wide as a whole street and as long as your house.</p>
<p>Two of you were oohing and aahing at everything you came across. It was incredible. Impossible. Exciting!</p>
<p>You got into the back sits of the sleigh. What would your Moms think about you getting into unknown vehicles? Your rationality was gone at the moment, so you didn’t really consider any implications of your actions.</p>
<p>As you and Cove were exploring the back sits, covered with a large fluffy blanket and hidden from immediate view, neither of you noticed Santa Claus that appeared out of nowhere and went towards his sleigh. Neither of you noticed his reindeers looking at the sleigh unsurely. Neither of you noticed that the sleigh left the earth and that the two of you were currently soaring across the night sky, high above your town, getting further and further away from it until it was a tiny speck of sand on the horizon. Soon even it disappeared.</p>
<p>You came to your senses when you felt temperature change. It became colder for some reason. </p>
<p>Cove noticed this too. He was first to cautiously peak from beneath the blanket and see…</p>
<p>Earth, somewhere way over below you. You froze in place.</p>
<p>This wasn’t part of the plan!</p>
<p>But still, it was so exciting and thrilling. You were flying miles above the ocean, it was so dark yet sparkled under the light of the moon like a jewel. You were mesmerized, and not even crispy cold air could ruin your good mood. The understanding, that you were far from home and far from your Mommies and that you were flying who knows where, didn’t dawn on you yet.</p>
<p>Whatever the case you felt your eyelids grow heavy and soon you and Cove fell asleep alongside each other, under the heavy warm blanket, on Santa’s reindeer sleigh, in the middle of the sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You felt a light jolt from your bed, which was kind of weird. What kind of bed would shake? Isn’t their whole purpose to remain stationary when you sleep?</p>
<p>Another jolt. As if you were moving in a car and not lying in your comfortable bed. You were in your bed, right?</p>
<p>You opened your eyes, slightly disoriented but the world quickly righted itself.</p>
<p>Right, you were not back home, you were in Santa’s sleigh, sentence you never in your entire life thought you would ever think.</p>
<p>You peaked outside your sleeping place and…</p>
<p>“Woah.”</p>
<p>It was breathtakingly beautiful. Like a Christmas postcard. Everything was so bright and colourful. Little quaint houses stand in neat rows surrounding a circle square. They looked like they were made from gingerbread and covered with thick icing on top. Giant candies jutted out from all over the place, like decorative statues. Ice sculptures were seen between bushy pines and Christmas trees. Everything was covered with a layer of pristine bright white snow. Well, everything save for wide paths made from bright orange and yellow stone.</p>
<p>It was really bright. Little lampposts illuminated the town like it was the middle of the day. Yet, despite the light you could still see stars and moon as clear as if the town was covered in darkness.</p>
<p>Combination of whites, blues, yellows and oranges was just simply gorgeous.</p>
<p>You heard light breathing and turned to see that Cove was still sleeping. You pushed him lightly to wake him up. He did so with great displeasure.</p>
<p>“___, what is it?”</p>
<p>You nudged him and pointed forward. He sleepily rubbed his eyes but followed your finger. His eyes widened behind his glasses. You saw the moment the same wonder that you felt encompassed him.</p>
<p>“Woah.”</p>
<p>After giving him a couple of moments to take everything in you came to a thought that you probably shouldn’t dawdle around for too long, in case someone noticed you.</p>
<p>“Cove.”</p>
<p>He wasn’t even looking at you. You nudged his shoulder. He startled and focused on you, his gaze accusing.</p>
<p>“We probably should go.”</p>
<p>“Why? I am fine where I am.” Cove could be so stubborn sometimes.</p>
<p>“Well, don’t you want to see what is out there?”</p>
<p>At this moment you saw them, little people who looked like children with tiny red Christmas hats on their heads. <em>‘Elves.’</em> You thought and you were right, they were indeed Santa’s elves. But no matter where you looked there were only elves and no humans, which probably meant that you wouldn’t be much welcome here looking like a human child.</p>
<p>Cove had the similar thought because he started going through stuff thrown around and finally with a triumphant smile he dug out from somewhere two tiny red hats similar to the ones that elves were wearing. He passed you one of the hats and you took it with a grateful smile.</p>
<p>“Here. Like this we can pretend like we are one of them.”</p>
<p>“Smart.”</p>
<p>With this done you slowly extracted yourself from sleigh, Cove following suit. Soon you were walking among the elves like you were one of them, they didn’t even bother questioning you being here, seeing as how even if you were elves you would still be strangers to them. Truly, they were just too polite for their own good.</p>
<p>Disguised as one of the locals you easily joined the largest stream of elves going in the direction of the brightest lights.</p>
<p>“Excuse me. Where are you all going?” you decided to ask the closest elf.</p>
<p>They looked you up and down with scrutiny and you were already regretting speaking at all when they suddenly said. “You are not from around here, are you? You must be one of those North Pole hicks.”</p>
<p>“Excuse me?!” Cove got angry on your behalf.</p>
<p>“Oh, there are two of you. How uncouth.” Cove was slowly fuming and was about to use some words that no proper eight year old would even know when he was interrupted by this rude elf, yet again. Why, out of all elves around you, did you have to grab attention of one who had so few good manners?</p>
<p>“Town centre is that way. All Christmas entertainment is there.”</p>
<p>Entertainment? Sounds intriguing. You looked at Cove who still looked ready to unleash the ire of heavens on this unsuspecting soul. You grabbed his hand and walked faster. This snapped him out of it. With a weird look he obediently followed you.</p>
<p>“Where are we going?”</p>
<p>“Weren’t you listening?”</p>
<p>“I was too busy being angry.”</p>
<p>You sighed.</p>
<p>“At least you admitted it.” He gave you an unimpressed look. “We are going towards town centre, that elf said that there would be lots of Christmas entertainment.”</p>
<p>“Sounds interesting.”</p>
<p>With twin smiles on faces you walked as quickly as you could towards your next destination.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was truly magnificent. Similar to the place you initially found yourself in yet so much more colourful and bright with even more decorations and lampposts everywhere.</p>
<p>There were little stalls in neat rows along both sides of the main street. They had different curiosities in them. Some had different attractions that you could get prizes if you won, most had festive foods and drinks. All of them looked truly fascinating. </p>
<p>You took your time with every single thing you both were interested in.</p>
<p>There was a hot chocolate stand with the best hot chocolate (<em>‘Sorry, Mommy.’</em>) you had ever had. It was just the right consistency with just enough cream to be smooth, with sweet melted chocolaty goodness on the bottom, fragrant spices and whipped cream and toasted marshmallows on top. It was just too good to be real. Elves really knew how to make a mean hot chocolate, you will give them that.</p>
<p>Next was Cove’s choice, he had seen a stall with many stuffed animals and decided to try his luck. Thankfully it was free.</p>
<p>“We have so many presents this year, we have nowhere to put the next year’s ones. Which is why we do this every year on Christmas.” Explained stall owner.</p>
<p>Cove took a ball and took aim at one of the three stacked bottle towers.</p>
<p>“So, how many do I need to hit?”</p>
<p>“As many as you can, we don’t have a fixed amount. It’s all about having fun here.”</p>
<p>Cove arched his arm back, gripped the ball tighter and then snapped it forward.</p>
<p>The ball soared through the air and landed exactly and inch to the left from tower.</p>
<p>Cove blinked. You blinked. Stall owner blinked.</p>
<p>Cove took another ball. This time he managed to hit two bottles and make them fall.</p>
<p>With the third and last ball he accomplished his mission, the tower was down and the prize was won.</p>
<p>And talking about the prize, Cove was really busy choosing one. He pointed towards the one that was a giant sparkly dolphin and looked so much like that one balloon that was lost during that one eventful summer day.</p>
<p>Owner took it and gave it to Cove who immediately started looking it all over.</p>
<p>While Cove was busy with his new friend, owner gestured for you to come closer. When you did he pulled another stuffed animal (albeit a smaller one) and gave it to you. It was a turtle with detailed embroidered shell.</p>
<p>“I didn’t play.”</p>
<p>“I know. But it’s Christmas today and we do have to get rid of all of them until the morning. Also, I thought they will find a good new home with you.” He winked at you. You smiled.</p>
<p>“Thank you. Have a good day.” You waved at him while walking towards the next enticing thing.</p>
<p>He waved back. “You too have a good day.”</p>
<p>You grasped Cove’s hand and went on with your adventures.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here you were, behind some houses, stuck to the ice cold giant candy cane with Cove trying to use his breath to help you. How did this happen? Well, you were curious about the taste, if it was the same as the small ones or if it was different. Answer, it was the same. The only nuance is that licking an ice cold lollipop causes your tongue to get stuck to the cane. At least you had Cove, it would truly be a terrible and embarrassing way to go, starved to death after freezing to the pole, oh, the stories people would tell about you, a fable on how not to not lick frozen objects in freezing weather.</p>
<p>A couple long minutes later your tongue was back where it’s supposed to be and both of you ran over to the tea stand to get something warm for your mouth.</p>
<p>You decided to never again lick giant lollipops on streets.</p>
<p>Your next target was a merry-go-round. It had many different animals and vehicles for you to choose from, every next one more colourful then previous.</p>
<p>You chose the dragon, the one that looked like shiny glittery ice. You turned to Cove to ask him what he was going to choose when you noticed that he was looking at you as well. You were confused but then you quickly understood, he chose a dragon as well. A different one but a dragon nonetheless.</p>
<p>He opened his mouth to say something (judging by a frown on his face something unpleasant) but then he changed his mind.</p>
<p>“So.”</p>
<p>“So?”</p>
<p>“I like the one you chose.” You tried to make peace.</p>
<p>He smiled bashfully.</p>
<p>“Thanks.” He got quiet for a moment and then added. “I like yours too.”</p>
<p>Now it was your turn to look bashful.</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>Awkward silence surrounded the two of you and it would have continued if it wasn’t for an elf who announced that merry-go-round was about to start.</p>
<p>You snapped out of your awkwardness and mounted your glittery mount while Cove did the same from across of you.</p>
<p>It began moving. There was nothing special about it, it was just a normal merry-g…</p>
<p>Oh. It wasn’t a normal one. As soon as it made a couple of rotations, all figures took off from their poles and started flying around. Cars would zoom around, chasing one another, animals would run and jump and play. At first you thought that they had a mind of their own but when you thought of going towards Cove, who looked a little bit lost, your mount took off towards him. It stopped as suddenly as it began flying, making you lurch forward in your seat.</p>
<p>“Hi.” You waved at Cove.</p>
<p>“Hi.” He waved back.</p>
<p>“I think they listen to what we think they should do.”</p>
<p>Cove looked down at his dragon and obviously thought of something. Dragon moved backwards and then turned in a circle. Cove grinned excitedly. You grinned back. The rest of merry-go-round time you spend playing around and chasing each other. It was fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was sparkly and white, made out of snow and so, so very tall.</p>
<p>A maze.</p>
<p>A snow maze.</p>
<p>Maze made out of snow.</p>
<p>Well, at least that’s what was written on the sign in front of it.</p>
<p><strong>‘Snow maze’</strong>.</p>
<p>You rolled your eyes, as if this wasn’t obvious from just one look.</p>
<p>It took you awhile but soon both you and Cove were safely on the other side of the maze.</p>
<p>Next was skating.</p>
<p>There was a giant lake right to the left of the maze. It was frozen solid yet was so clear you could see all the deep cracks that went on meters deep.</p>
<p>Your Moms didn’t allow you to skate yet, and it’s not like you can find any actual snow or ice back home to skate on, unless it was a skating rink in the closest city. But where was fun in that?</p>
<p>Here you had all the freedom you ever wanted to fall as many times and to try as many stupidly hard moves as you wanted to.</p>
<p>Three circles and two hurt limbs later you found yourself in a tender care of local nurse.</p>
<p>“Kids these days.” They mumbled in a way that it was obvious they wanted you to hear every word they said.</p>
<p>Whatever they used to heal you it worked in seconds. Less than a minute later you felt as good as you could ever feel and were ready to tackle on more of the challenges that this town presented.</p>
<p>Cove looked as ready as you and so you were off to the next challenge.</p>
<p>That was a <strong>‘Build a snow person contest’</strong>.</p>
<p>You participated and even won. Participation award. These people were true wolves, as lonely and as fierce as them and as capable of tearing into their opponents’ throats. Sometimes even literally.</p>
<p>You were content enough to get something, while Cove was sulking because…</p>
<p>“I think our snow person was the best one, we should have won.”</p>
<p>Yeah, it seems that not winning metaphorical gold was still a sore spot for him.</p>
<p>You decided to distract him from his negative thoughts before he ruined both his and yours mood.</p>
<p>“Hey. I thought something.” He didn’t look at you but at least he stopped pacing.</p>
<p>“These houses, don’t they look like gingerbread houses.” That finally got his curiosity enough for him to look at you.</p>
<p>“Don’t you just want to bite them? To find out if they are really made out of gingerbread.”</p>
<p>He smiled. “This is stupid.”</p>
<p>You nodded.</p>
<p>“It is. But I still want to try.”</p>
<p>“I am not doing it. If you want to be free to do so, but I won’t.”</p>
<p>You shrugged.</p>
<p>“More for me.”</p>
<p>In the end it wasn’t the best idea you ever had, even worse than some of the Cove’s and that’s saying a lot.</p>
<p>You bit into the house wall and the next moment you felt a crunch, like something breaking. Something like your tooth.</p>
<p>In panic you pulled away from a wall that tasted just like a regular wall and not at all like gingerbread.</p>
<p>Cove looked scared too, he must have heard the crunch. You opened your mouth and near hysterically ask him.</p>
<p>“Can you see it?! Where is it? Is it broken?! Which one?”</p>
<p>“The front tooth. It’s the front tooth.” He looked like he was about to feint but it made you think.</p>
<p>“Front?” he nodded. “Front lower or front upper?”</p>
<p>“Upper. Does it change something?”</p>
<p>You closed your mouth and licked the place where the tooth used to be, then you sighed with relief.</p>
<p>“It’s okay, Cove.”</p>
<p>“How is this okay, ___?! Your tooth it’s… it’s just gone!”</p>
<p>“It was one of those that fall out. A baby tooth. If it didn’t fall out on its own I would have to go to dentist.” Just one thought was enough to make you shudder.</p>
<p>He let out a breath, looking as relieved as you felt.</p>
<p>“Just a baby tooth.” He giggled. “You pulled your baby tooth while you were biting on a gingerbread looking house in the middle of who knows where.”</p>
<p>You giggled too. “Yeah. And we also got here on a flying sleigh!” He looked at you and laughed.</p>
<p>“And it had reindeers! Actual reindeers!” You quietened and looked each other in the eyes.</p>
<p>You were silent for a couple of seconds until you whispered. “Reindeers.” And the two of you laughed harder than you laughed since this morning.</p>
<p>You calmed down a little bit. Cove just stood there looking at the sky.</p>
<p>“Can you imagine, ___?”</p>
<p>“No, I can’t”</p>
<p>You looked up as well.</p>
<p>You looked towards the stall with chocolate and exchanged a glance. You grinned and Cove laughed at your missing front tooth.</p>
<p>Before moving on you spend some time looking for a fallen tooth. When you found it you safely put it into one of your pockets.</p>
<p>The stall with chocolate was waiting for you and who were you to make it wait?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Somewhere in the Santa’s town, in the Security Department headquarters there was a tiny little red blip on radar. Toby, the only elf insane enough to do his job on Christmas, looked closer at it, blinking his eyes slowly and even trying to rub them to see if he suddenly stops being delusional.</p>
<p>Red blip persisted.</p>
<p>“This is not good.” He finally understood that something was wrong, very wrong. “This is so not good! Margaret!”</p>
<p>He swiftly rose from his seat and ran out of the surveillance room.</p>
<p>“Margaret!”</p>
<p>He ran into the cafeteria. There she was, as beautiful as ever, the radiant star on top of his Christmas tree. Margaret. With a giant chocolate croissant and equally large mug of something that smelled strongly of hot chocolate and cognac (she liked to eat a lot and he loved that about her), she was sitting on top of one of the numerous empty tables and looked at him with an unimpressed look.</p>
<p>“Yes? What is it?”</p>
<p>“Margaret. There is a red blip on the radar.”</p>
<p>The croissant made its descent to the floor as if in slow-motion. Not the croissant! Oh, why does this cruel world take away everything that we love?</p>
<p>“Red blip! Are you sure?!”</p>
<p>“I am.”</p>
<p>“This is not good. This is so not good!”</p>
<p>She started pacing, croissant long forgotten lying on the floor, its liquid chocolate filling oozing onto the floor like a student’s dreams after graduation, crushed beneath the harsh reality.</p>
<p>“Did you notify chief NPPD*?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think about this. I just wanted to be sure that it’s not a false call.”</p>
<p>With a decisive nod, Margaret grasped her mug tighter and took a sip from it.</p>
<p>“Then, let’s go and look at your red blip.”</p>
<p>Together they quickly made their way back into surveillance room.</p>
<p>It was there. The red blip.</p>
<p>Margaret didn’t want to believe, but it was true. She couldn’t just close her eyes on this.</p>
<p>Santa’s town was compromised.</p>
<p>With solemn mood, Margaret walked towards her cabinet.</p>
<p>She locked the door behind her and dialled the secret number that only she had.</p>
<p>“Sir. It’s Margaret from Security Department. We have an emergency. It’s threat level CN**.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were tired and so was Cove. It was a great adventure and now that it was coming to an end you finally realized that you didn’t know how to get back home.</p>
<p>Before you started panicking the loud siren sounded from somewhere nearby.</p>
<p>You looked up and saw a loudspeaker on one of the lampposts. The little light on its side was glowing bright red.</p>
<p>“Attention! Attention! This is not a test! I repeat, this is not a test! We are currently experiencing a threat level CN. I repeat, threat level CN! Please, keep calm and proceed to your home as soon as you can. If you have any information regarding threat CN, please, contact authorities and share what you know. Don’t panic. Keep calm. Everything is under control.”</p>
<p>If before the atmosphere was joyous and festive, now it suddenly turned into anxious and grim.</p>
<p>Most elves were looking at elves around them. Most looked scared, others looked serious, some looked confused. You and Cove joined the confused crowd with your own lack of understanding of the situation.</p>
<p>What was this threat CN? It must be really serious to make all those elves look so glum.</p>
<p>You quickly pulled the closest person to you aside to ask questions. Unfortunately for you, it was the same elf from before, the one that was very rude to you and Cove.</p>
<p>“You. What do you want?” Their displeasure was as clear as yours.</p>
<p>“What is going on?”</p>
<p>It was obvious that they wanted to get rid of your presence as quickly as possible, because they didn’t even bother calling you names.</p>
<p>“Haven’t you heard, it’s threat level CN.”</p>
<p>“But what does it mean?”</p>
<p>They rolled their eyes at your, in their eyes, obvious stupidity.</p>
<p>“CN stands for ChildreN. It means that there are children on territory of Santa’s town. Unacceptable, of course. You didn’t know this? What am I talking about, of course you didn’t. What do they even teach you nowa…” But you weren’t listening to them anymore.</p>
<p>You felt faint. Children. They are looking for children. You and Cove are children. They are looking for you. What are they going to do to you once they found you? You couldn’t be sure if their intensions are good, because they clearly consider you a threat.</p>
<p>You were almost in tears, when Cove suddenly pulled you somewhere. You were so surprised that you didn’t say anything only followed his lead.</p>
<p>“Cove, where are we going?”</p>
<p>He didn’t look at you, continuing to look forward, your hand squeezed in his. He swallowed nervously.</p>
<p>“Everybody was leaving, it would be suspicious if we stayed there.”</p>
<p>“But do you even know where we are going?”</p>
<p>He stopped and turned to face you. You stopped and looked at him as well.</p>
<p>“I don’t think it matters. We just had to leave that place. We will think of something when we need to.”</p>
<p>He went on forward and you followed him. You had nothing to say to this and just continued to look around, Cove’s hand warm in yours.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were walking for a while. Most of other elves that walked alongside you were no longer there, they got safely back into their homes. It was just you and another unfortunate couple. Soon even they got inside one of the houses. Now only you remained.</p>
<p>You were almost to the edge of the town, when you stopped and dug your heels into the ground. Cove jerked to a stop and turned to you with tired expression on his face.</p>
<p>“Cove, it’s the edge of town. We can’t go on.”</p>
<p>He looked like he wanted to argue with you and go out anyway but he thought better of it and just groaned in acceptance.</p>
<p>“Yeah, you are right. We can’t go out there, but where else are we supposed to go?”</p>
<p>You opened your mouth to answer when sudden sound brought your attention towards a tiny alleyway between two houses closest to you.</p>
<p>You tensed up from whatever it was that the sound was coming from. Cove grabbed your hand tighter and started slowly backing away from it with you in tow. Both of you were quiet.</p>
<p>You were almost hidden behind the house when suddenly something jumped out straight from the alleyway. It was a giant… nutcracker? It was a normal human sized nutcracker and it was riding a giant squirrel. This was weird and it says a lot considering that you had seen many weird things today.</p>
<p>Nutcracker turned your way. It was as if it could feel exactly where you were. Cove pulled on your arm, it looked at you. The moment you moved it snapped into action.</p>
<p>“It’s NPPD! You are under arrest! Don’t resist!” it ran at you at full speed. As a child you thought that squirrels were cute, but this hellish screeching monstrosity was as far away from tiny adorable rodents as it could be and it certainly didn’t look half as friendly as one.</p>
<p>You turned and run, you didn’t think where you were going you were just running on pure adrenaline, your heart beating away in the rhythm of war drums. You had to get away from.</p>
<p>Thankfully both it and squirrel were too large to fit into most nooks and crannies around the town, so you managed to get a lot of distance between you and them.</p>
<p>You ran and ran until you felt like your lungs were bursting in their attempt to get as much air inside as they can. From beside you, you could see Cove, as exhausted and out of breath as you.</p>
<p>You were about ready to just fall where you stood, give up and let that thing take you wherever it was going to take you but sudden voice pierced the cold night air.</p>
<p>“Here! Over here!” it said in a voice just loud enough for you to hear it.</p>
<p>Had you been less exhausted and sleep deprived you would have thought twice before following weird voices into their houses, but you were very tired and couldn’t think straight.</p>
<p>Door closed behind you the moment you and Cove were inside.</p>
<p>You turned and there was…</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everything wasn’t going as they wanted it to.</p>
<p>Children were still out there and they were, most probably, still causing trouble everywhere.</p>
<p>Santa’s town was known for its impeccable security department. There was no children sightings for over three centuries which says a lot. And now they had a security breach and not just one child, there were at least two.</p>
<p>Shame on them. What do the good citizens pay taxes for if security department can’t even guaranty their safety?</p>
<p>Arnold was sitting and thinking of their next actions, because they had to do something, they can’t just leave kids as they are. And there is also problem with Santa. Poor man was so tired when he came into his house, that Arnold immediately decided he needed rest and sleep. What will he think when he finds out about kids in his town? Disaster. True disaster.</p>
<p>They were so deep in thought that they didn’t even notice a familiar presence behind them. Red suit with white fur trim, white bushy beard and glasses on the tip of his nose, it was Santa!</p>
<p>“Arnold, my dear friend, what is eating at you?”</p>
<p>They stiffened. Santa was awake. Santa was awake because they couldn’t catch a couple of raucous children. They looked back into Santa’s kind warm eyes and they just couldn’t keep it inside. They spilled everything.</p>
<p>Santa looked deep in thought, one of his hands rubbing his beard.</p>
<p>“I see.” He finally said. “You need to relax, I will take care of this.”</p>
<p>“What? No! I have everything under control! If anyone needs to relax it’s you, Santa. You always push yourself too much!” Arnold didn’t like the idea of leaving his messes for Santa to deal with.</p>
<p>Santa put his hand on Arnold’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Arnold, my friend, you too always push yourself too far. You need vacation.”</p>
<p>“Vacation?” Arnold’s eyes shone. Santa smiled through his beard.</p>
<p>“Yes, vacation. How about this? You take off two weeks and use this time to visit your family on North Pole. Hmm?”</p>
<p>Arnold was torn. On one hand vacation, on the other hand their messes and responsibilities.</p>
<p>“Two weeks, Arnold.” Santa whispered to them.</p>
<p>They accepted.</p>
<p>“Good, now go, you need to sleep.”</p>
<p>They were about to object, when sudden shrilling sound cut apart the silence of the building.</p>
<p>They looked at each other, surprised that someone would call Santa’s personal residency on holiday.</p>
<p>Santa walked towards the phone and answered it.</p>
<p>His face was impassive, until he looked almost relieved. He hanged up and put phone back into place.</p>
<p>“What? What is it?”</p>
<p>Santa looked at them and said.</p>
<p>“It seems like those little troublemakers were found.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were still in shock but the cup of hot chocolate in your hands grounded you in reality.</p>
<p>You were sitting in what looked like a tiny perfect house for someone who is very talented in everything no matter what they choose to do.</p>
<p>There were knitted things everywhere, plants of all kind, all of them in good condition, what looked like a mini piano, paintings and many other different things. It was cozy and warm. You felt tingles in tips of your fingers and toes, you didn’t even notice that you were really cold until you were somewhere warm.</p>
<p>You looked at Cove who was sitting in the armchair near you. He too had hot chocolate in his hands and he too was looking at and taking everything in.</p>
<p>The woman who took you in felt different from all the other elves you had met today. Despite looking like a child with white hair she gave off this feeling of extreme maturity and wisdom, like she is very, very old. She might as well be for all you knew about elves.</p>
<p>But that wasn’t important, what was, was that you were safe and comfortable and she was nice and kind.</p>
<p>She didn’t give her name and didn’t ask for yours, she just hid you from obvious danger and promised that everything will be resolved peacefully and without any harm coming to both of you. Cove still looked mistrustful of her and her intentions but you personally felt like you could trust her.</p>
<p>Currently elf woman was somewhere else in the house and it sounded like she was talking to someone. You hoped you made the right choice in taking shelter in her home.</p>
<p>Soon voice went silent and you heard footsteps coming downstairs. You looked up to see her stepping inside the room you were in. She looked at both of you kindly and said.</p>
<p>“How do you like hot chocolate?”</p>
<p>You stared at her, confused as to why it mattered but then you thought <em>‘How could I think that it didn’t? It’s hot chocolate after all! It’s very important!’</em></p>
<p>“It’s really good.”</p>
<p>Cove looked even grumpier after your comment. Woman ignored his quiet displeasure and continued.</p>
<p>“Good, good. You enjoy your hot choco and I will go and knit something.” You wanted to ask her if you were going to be fine but it seemed like she wasn’t done talking yet. “I already made necessary calls. You will be safely back home before anyone else would wake up.”</p>
<p>You wanted to ask more questions but based on her taking her knitting needles and a ball of sparkly blue yarn, she wasn’t going to answer any of your other questions.</p>
<p>You are left to think in silence, too nervous to fall asleep. Cove squeezed his fingers tighter around the mug and took a sip.</p>
<p>The only thing you could do was wait.</p>
<p>So wait you did.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It didn’t take too long for whatever it was that you were waiting for to appear in the elf woman’s house. And it was none the other than…</p>
<p>“Santa!”</p>
<p>You and Cove simultaneously jumped out of your armchairs and ran over to a man who looked just like Santa who left presents under your Christmas tree.</p>
<p>He smiled kindly at your childish enthusiasm and happiness and patted each of you on the head.</p>
<p>You jumped in place from overwhelming emotions.</p>
<p>It was Santa, actual Santa!</p>
<p>But what was he doing here?</p>
<p>At your side Cove wasn’t sharing your enthusiasm. He was as suspicious as he was when meeting new people, especially adults. Considering the circumstances under which you found yourselves in this kind woman’s house you couldn’t be sure if you could trust anyone who comes in, even if they look like Santa Claus.</p>
<p>While he went over to the woman to talk to her about something you took a moment to consider the situation. You knew that your Mommies would riot if they knew that you were interacting like this with an adult you didn’t know but you couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t bad. He seemed kind and nice, like some of those old people who shared their homemade cookies with your family every time they visited Sunset Bird in summer, even if he didn’t look as old as they did.</p>
<p>You looked at Cove who seemed really uncomfortable and ready to bolt at any moment. You took his hand and felt him jump. He turned to look at you like a dear in headlights, but you just smiled reassuringly. He frowned but looked much calmer afterwards.</p>
<p>Santa and elf came back.</p>
<p>“Children, I think I don’t have to tell you who this is, right?”</p>
<p>“It’s Santa!” “It’s Santa.” Both of you said simultaneously with different levels of excitement.</p>
<p>She smiled.</p>
<p>“Indeed. And he will help you get back home.”</p>
<p>Cove was about to argue but you lightly elbowed him in the side. He looked at you accusingly but you just nodded at the woman to let her know that you are okay with this plan. She nodded back at you.</p>
<p>It took a while to get to the main building but you were finally there. It’s large, so large that you are surprised you didn’t actually see it before. It looked just like all the other buildings from outside but you saw the main difference when you walked in.</p>
<p>Interior looked just like all those business centres you saw in movies and tv shows. White, clean and reflective, it looked so out of place here, in this cozy town, but then again Santa did need a base from where he worked, just like all adults. It made sense to you.</p>
<p>You stopped walking when you neared large comfy looking chairs that lined the walls of this room.</p>
<p>“Please, sit, relax, enjoy candies.” He pointed towards a giant bowl of chocolatey goodness standing in the middle of a small coffee table. “I will be back as soon as I make arrangements to bring you back, alright?”</p>
<p>You nodded, Cove nodded too albeit with reluctance.</p>
<p>You sat down in one of the chairs and prepared yourself to wait for as long as you had to.</p>
<p>Elf woman took her knitting needles and yarn out of her bag and continued knitting whatever it was that she was making. She finished the one thing that she started knitting back in her house and already went on to make the next one. You were curious to know what she was making but you weren’t rude enough to ask her.</p>
<p>You filled the time you were waiting with conversations with Cove and silence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It felt like it was more than an hour ago that Santa left, when in fact barely ten minutes passed.</p>
<p>Time dragged on like syrup. You were holding onto consciousness with pure strength of your anxious worry, adrenaline wouldn’t let you fall asleep. You could see that Cove was sitting stiffly, just like you he was waiting for Santa to appear and for you to either go home or have to run away if all of this was a trap. Where you would ran you didn’t know, but you wouldn’t let them catch you alive!</p>
<p>Elf woman finished her knitting and put her belongings into her bag. You couldn’t see what she made, she strategically put her hands in such a way that none of it was visible.</p>
<p>You pouted. She noticed your expression and only kindly smiled.</p>
<p>It made you even poutier.</p>
<p>Not even a minute later you saw Santa walking towards you with a smile.</p>
<p>You perked up.</p>
<p>“Everything was arranged. You go back home with the next NP*** railways express, which arrives in ten minutes.”</p>
<p>You couldn’t believe it, you were actually going back home! Cove finally looked as happy as you did, his previous grumpiness gone.</p>
<p>Together you gathered whatever modest belongings you had with you and together you ventured towards the railway station.</p>
<p>Your journey was short and uneventful, nothing tried to attack you and there was no one around to reprimand you for not knowing something you couldn’t have possibly known in the first place.</p>
<p>It was quiet and cold, crispy winter air burned your lungs, snow reflected light form street lamps and quaint houses lined the sides of the street. All in all it was almost as it was back then when you first stepped foot in this town, yet it was also different, softer somehow.</p>
<p>You took everything in as if this was the last time you would ever be here, the last time you would breathe air so fresh and clean, the last time you would see snow so white and pure, the landscape so vast and endless. And it would the last time, somehow you knew you wouldn’t see any of this again and even if it was sad you still felt grateful to witness something like this. You can only hope that in the future you wouldn’t think of this as just a dream, it would be sad if you forgot everything that happened today.</p>
<p>You could see that you weren’t the only one who felt this way, Cove looked upset as well. He noticed you looking at him and frowned at you in confusion.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>You shrugged. He sniffed. You giggled. This got a smile out of him which he quickly replaced with annoyed expression.</p>
<p>“I enjoyed this adventure.”</p>
<p>He looked at you.</p>
<p>“Me too.” You lapsed back into quiet.</p>
<p>A couple of seconds later Cove opened his mouth to say something but closed it. He did it a couple of times before he finally squeezed the words out of himself.</p>
<p>“I will miss this place. It was nice and if I could I would do it again with you.”</p>
<p>You felt your cheeks grow warmer.</p>
<p>“I would too.” You answered quietly.</p>
<p>With a spring in step you finally reached your destination – railway station.</p>
<p>It was as festive as everything else, covered in snow and little lights that looked like tiny fireflies.</p>
<p>You thought you would have more time to look around, but the moment you walked inside you saw the train waiting for you.</p>
<p>You couldn’t believe it. You didn’t want to believe it. It was over, you were going home. But then why weren’t you happy, why did you feel like you were about to start crying? Your eyes felt wet and soon you were sobbing nonstop. Even Cove looked taken aback but eventually it hit him too, that you were leaving this place and he felt tears prick his eyes, he didn’t stop them.</p>
<p>Adult elves startled not knowing what to do. But before they could all laps into panic, older elf woman walked towards you two and took both of you into her arms. You clung to her with all your strength while bawling your eyes out.</p>
<p>She obviously knew what she was doing, her gestures and the kind words she said to you helped you calm down in record time. By the time she moved away you were still sniffing but you felt much better.</p>
<p>“It’s sad to leave something you feel connected to, like this place, but wouldn’t you rather make sure your last experience with this place isn’t soured by bad mood?”</p>
<p>You nodded with understanding. Of course, it made sense. You would rather remember all the good things you experienced instead of remembering how you were crying in the middle of train station.</p>
<p>You wiped away tears and with serious face came over to the woman to give her a quick but grateful hug. You did the same to Santa who accepted it without question.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas! Ho-ho-ho!”</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas!” You said in chorus.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas! Be good , kids.” Said elf lady whose name you still didn’t know.</p>
<p>“We will!”</p>
<p>With this you stepped into the wagon and took your places. You waved at Santa and elf woman until they disappeared from your view.</p>
<p>You didn’t even notice how tired you were until now, nerves didn’t allow you to relax fully but now that you were on your way home you found yourself so tired. You rested your head on Cove’s and he leaned into you as well. Like this you fell asleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Next thing you knew you were waking up in your home in your bed with Cove in the sleeping bag on the floor.</p>
<p>You were in your room and there was no evidence of your earlier escapade.</p>
<p>‘Was all of it a dream?’ The thought upset you. You didn’t want it to be just a dream.</p>
<p>But well, you didn’t actually think that it was real, right?</p>
<p>With a sigh you stepped out of your bed and lightly pushed Cove so he would wake up.</p>
<p>He mumbled something you couldn’t understand, too sleepy to deal with you.</p>
<p>“Cove, wake up. It’s Christmas. Let’s go open presents.”</p>
<p>He didn’t move further.</p>
<p>You pouted.</p>
<p>“Well, if you are not coming I would just have to go and take all your presents.”</p>
<p>He sat abruptly and looked at you fully alert.</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare.”</p>
<p>“The last one down will open presents last!”</p>
<p>With these words you ran towards the door. Cove quickly oriented himself and ran after you.</p>
<p>“Unfair!”</p>
<p>You giggled.</p>
<p>“By the way, ___, what happened to your front tooth?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. It must have fallen out in my sleep.”</p>
<p>And none of you noticed two little knitted animals on your nightstand. Two dolphins leaning on each other, one blue and another green. Together just like you, with a tiny letter beneath them that said.</p>
<p>“Merry Christmas, dear ___ and Cove.”</p>
<p>Merry Christmas indeed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Consider this a Christmas present to everyone who reads it.<br/>As a child I always wanted adventures like this and while this is not what I imagined going through at that age, I think I would quite enjoy this kind of journey.<br/>Merry Christmas to all of you!</p>
<p>*NPPD - North Pole Police Department<br/>**threat level CN - threat level ChildreN<br/>***NP - North Pole</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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